China will draw up policies aimed at speeding up the transfer of rural land as part of efforts to improve efficiency and promote large-scale commercial farming, the government said on Thursday. The central government said in its “number one document” for 2013, focusing on modernising agriculture, it would grant more subsidies to large-scale landholders, family farms and rural cooperatives as it tries to provide more incentives to bring economies of scale to the fragmented countryside. The “number one document” is a key indicator of policy priorities and has focused on rural matters every year since 2003.

Viacom net falls on lower revenue from movies

Media conglomerate Viacom Inc said on Thursday that quarterly revenue fell 16% mainly on weaker results from its Paramount movie unit but profit topped estimates Revenue totaled $3.3 billion, while analysts, on average, expected Viacom to report revenue of $3.48 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. Revenue from its media networks, home to cable channels MTV, Nickelodeon and Comedy Central, slipped 2% to $2.4 billion on weaker advertising revenue. Net income fell to $473 million, or 93 cents per share, from $591 million, or $1.06 per share, for the same period last year.